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Canada - East to West by Train - Part 2: Moncton (NB) to Quebec City (QB) and Montreal (QB)

06/09/2014 11:48:00 am

December 2013

I arrived on a chilly winters morning into Quebec City at 5am after a restless night on the train from Moncton. I grabbed a taxi and headed to the Hi Hostel in Quebec City hoping to crash on a couch there until a 3pm to check in. Testing out one of my French phrases I had learnt in Moncton, parlez-vous anglais ("Do you speak English?"). Receiving a "oui" back and a smile, I was able to crash in my bed for the morning, excellent. Sleeping until about 10 or 11, I decided to have a shower and take a look around the city. Upon looking under my bed, I noticed a friend I had made in Halifax, Jacob (previously he was above my bed in Halifax). Catching up, I headed out to wander the inner city of Quebec City. About -7 was the temperature, and with enough layers on, I found it surprisingly tolerable for a Queenslander, and dare I say, enjoyable. I trudged the snow and wandered aimlessly through streets and the old town. With Christmas so close, the lower Old Town was covered in Christmas decorations. A beautiful city, stunningly French and at times I had to tell myself I was in Canada and not in France!

I returned back in the afternoon to be invited out for a few drinks before heading out on a pub crawl later in that evening. The next day I wandered Quebec City more and ended up getting an early night's sleep before a 2 hour train ride to Montreal.

Bundling out into the train station, I caught up with another traveller who was living in Kingston who I'd met in Quebec City and then wandered down to the hostel to meet Jacob and settle in for the night. Wandering around Rue St Catherine we ended up at a hostel bar not to far away, and decided to stay there the following night. I even extended my stay for a another night to catch MGMT for only $40.

The next few days I visited Parc du Mont-Royal, found some great coffee in a coffee shop called Melbourne, went to the Olympic Park Tower and the Old Port.

With Jacob heading north to learn to snowboard, I left the hostel and after another wander through Montreal, I boarded another 2 hour train to Ontario with my first stop the nations capital, Ottawa.